Newsletter February 17, 2022

Are We Approaching the End of the Secular Surge?

Daniel A. Cox

One of the defining demographic trends of the past several decades has been the rise of the “Nones,” also known as the religiously unaffiliated. The General Social Survey (GSS), which has measured national religious identity since the early 1970s, first identified the spike in nonreligious affiliation starting in the mid-1990s. In recent years, there have been no signs that this trend is slowing down.

However, a recent exchange with Ryan Burge, author of The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going, piqued my interest about whether the rate of secular identity may be leveling off. Burge’s analysis shows that younger adults are no longer less religious than the immediately previous cohort. This plateau would suggest that the rate of unaffiliated growth will slow.

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Survey Reports

Daniel A. Cox
July 23, 2026

A Digital Divide in American Adolescence: Gender, Class, and the New Teenage Experience

If teenage years once represented a time of rebellion, teenagers’ lives today are marked less by pushing boundaries and more by building their own. Many teenage experiences are less common than they once were—dating, working a part-time job, and experimenting with drugs and alcohol are less common experiences. The 2026 American Teenagers Survey from the

Daniel A. Cox, Jae Grace, Avery Shields
April 27, 2026

Strangers Next Door: The Decline of Neighborhood Socializing and the Class Divide in Belonging

Acknowledgment The American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life is grateful to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for its generous support of this research. As Americans spend more of their time online, the neighborhood—once a primary physical location for real-world socialization—is playing less of a central role than ever before. Since

Daniel A. Cox, Kelsey Eyre Hammond
November 20, 2025

Individuality and Moral Behavior: A Generational Divide in Moral Judgments and Self-Expression

Younger and older Americans increasingly disagree on the morality of certain behaviors, reflecting deep shifts in views about individuality, self-expression, and the role of community and faith.

Daniel A. Cox
July 2, 2025

America’s Cultural Crossroads: Enduring Discontent, Rising Disconnection, and an Uncertain Future

A new survey from the Survey Center on American Life shows Americans are changing course on major cultural issues—from immigration and gay rights to gender roles and public trust.

Are We Approaching the End of the Secular Surge?

Survey Reports

A Digital Divide in American Adolescence: Gender, Class, and the New Teenage Experience

Strangers Next Door: The Decline of Neighborhood Socializing and the Class Divide in Belonging

Individuality and Moral Behavior: A Generational Divide in Moral Judgments and Self-Expression

America’s Cultural Crossroads: Enduring Discontent, Rising Disconnection, and an Uncertain Future

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